Grand Rapids Home for Veterans

The Grand Rapids Planning Commission has voted to approve moving forward with a new $49 million Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. The new home is set to be constructed at 3 mile road and Monroe Avenue and will have room for 128 residents. Plans for the building include a community center with a kitchen, clinic, physical therapy space, offices and a meditation chapel.

Dan Waun is a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. He says the new facility will be a major upgrade than the current home originally built in 1885.

A woman who entered a plea agreement in the death of an 85-year-old woman who was found in cold weather outside an assisted living center in western Michigan has received a delayed jail sentence. A Kent County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday sentenced Denise Filcek to six months in jail, but agreed to delay the jail term for an appeal.

A caregiver has been sentenced to six months behind bars in the death of an 85-year-old woman who was found in cold weather outside an assisted living center in western Michigan. Yahira Zamora learned her punishment at a Tuesday hearing. She earlier pleaded no contest to second-degree vulnerable adult abuse.

Two women charged in the death of an 85-year-old woman who was found in cold weather outside an assisted living center in western Michigan have reached plea deals in the case. Denise Filcek on Wednesday entered a plea to a charge of intentionally placing false information on a chart involving medical records. Authorities say she was responsible for making bed checks. She told the judge, however, she didn't check on everyone.

The family of a World War II veteran with dementia who was attacked and died after wandering into another man's room at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans in 2012 has settled a lawsuit against the state of Michigan. The family of Andrew Ball Jr. will get $544,000 and the state will cover $281,000 in court costs and attorney fees. The 84-year-old man was struck several times in the head after entering another man's room in April 2012. Ball died a few days later.

Grand Rapids Home for Veterans are planning to build a new multi-million dollar, 120-bed facility in 2019 as Governor Rick Snyder approved the overarching plan this month. The plans come after a state audit released in February revealed inadequate staffing levels and a failure to properly investigate allegations of abuse, neglect and inadequate staffing at the home. WGVU spoke with Michigan Veterans Affairs AGency Director James Robert Redford about the new facility and how the agency has responded since the audit's release.

Brand new veterans facilities are planned for Michigan's two largest cities as early as 2019.

A 120-bed facility in Grand Rapids will replace the aging Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, and a similarly-sized facility in Detroit will be a new addition to the state's Department of Military and Veteran Affairs long-term care system.

Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. For more than a quarter of a century the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans has held a service remembering the men and women who lost their lives, and how the attack changed a nation and the world.

Former Marine Joe Clemens has one final mission—help as many Veterans as he can, while he can.

Clemens, who is diagnosed with terminal Neurotic Idiopathic Angioedema, a rare blood disease, has spent the last 8 years helping homeless veterans, many with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, get back on their feet and re-acclimated to society.

Clemens said the calling on his life to assist other veterans came from his own experience after his service in the Marines had ended.

Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill Wednesday that requires the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency, its successor agency, or the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) to send reports to the governor and legislature four times a year.

The reports must examine issues like timeliness of medication distribution, how patient’s money is accounted for, and staffing levels. R